Backup Solutions

Why Backup is so Important

Backup is very important for most business since data can be lost or corrupt for various causes such as human mistake, hardware failure, software failure, computer viruses, earthquake, fire, etc. Establishing backup/restore practice is not only to ensure business continuity, but as well as to meet various compliance requirements, depending on type of organizations.

Planning & Considerations

To be prepared for data loss by human error or software trouble, backup scheduling should be planned carefully. To be prepared for data loss by hardware trouble, backup media should be the consideration, for example, backup to another server, another storage device, tapes, removable HDD, etc. To be prepared for disasters such as earthquake, offsite backup is recommended. Offsite backup can be done either by online (VPN link with offsite location) or offline (shipping backup media to remote location). For offsite backup, ensuring security is very important. Encrypt all the data as well as physically locking remote location, racks, media cases are recommended.

What is included in backup needs to be clearly specified. Different backup depending on type of data, for example, file backup (specific files/folders), system image backup (entire server image including applications and settings, physical server or virtual server), special type of data such as SQL database, Exchange database, Active Directory settings, etc. Example of Backup software is Symantec BackupExec, Acronis True Image, etc.

Recommended Practice

To establish good backup/restore practice, it will take considerations on what data needs to be on backup on what frequency, to what device, where to store them, how security is ensured on backup data. For scheduling, job timing as well as approximate time the job takes, type of backup (full, differential, incremental) will need to be decided. Maintaining thorough documentation with all those details as well as regular restore test is recommended.

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